PIRATES Set Sail

By Brandon Dorman

Arrrggh! This be da month that Cap’n Bones and his briny crew set sail! My brand-new picture book Pirates of the Sea!is now in stores!

My goal was to create a pirate book that was traditionally based but showed as much as possible about what pirates encounter while at sea. Honestly, I was caught off guard by how long the process can be if you’re trying to write a picture book in rhyme, using pirate talk. Nonetheless, this book was a blast to create.

Just a few FAQs:
• The writing process for Pirates of the Sea! took about 6 months.
• Illustrating the whole book took about 4 months.
• I think there are 23 different pirate names included.

Originally the manuscript was about a pirate captain named Jack Batbone, who gets a message from his crew that his days are numbered. Captain Jack takes it as a mutiny letter and is prepared to walk the plank. It turns out it’s a birthday party for the captain, not a mutiny. This idea was really fun, but with a little research we found that birthday books haven’t sold that well historically. So, we still liked the pirate theme, but it was back to the drawing board.

My hope is that all those who open this book’s pages can’t help but crack a smile at least once. I personally think the best way to share this story is out loud and in the best swashbucklin’ pirate voice ye can muster.

And never forget the pirate code:

(Click on the picture to enlarge it!)

Brandon Dorman is the creator of Pirates of the Sea! and Santa’s Stowaway. You can visit him online at www.brandondorman.com.